Today, the technology world is gripped by what can only be described as a dirty war between iOS on one side, and Android on the other. While the parties in this war fight it out in the US court system, the web has latched onto this conflict like a starved leach to a nice juicy ankle, and this focus on just iOS and Android has had a rather unpleasant side effect. This effect was subtle at first, but now, it's everywhere. Yes, if you were to believe the web, iOS and/or Android invented everything when it comes to mobile operating systems. I will have none of that, and my PDA collection begs to differ too.

I have a Sony CLIE NX80V somewhere which begs for finding some new reason in existence. The problem is, however, that there is some issue with the screen colors. I guess the display cable has some bad contact, as I could temporarily restore the colors by pressing strongly the device in some point.

However, the device may interest you anyway, since the software part is not as much interesting as the hardware itself: the software is classical Sony's custom PalmOS. Hardware-wise, I also have some nice accessories, like the wired remote-control which doubled as a stylus or the Sony-branded Memory Stick Bluetooth dongle.

When I was using the device the most, outside of the basic PDA tasks it also kept me busy in the train playing videos (controlled with the wired remote-controller) or running games. I remember trying a port of Duke Nukem 3D on it! I also used to write SMS on the device and then send them on my phone by Bluetooth. That way I used the keyboard of the NX80V instead of the keypad of the phone. The SMS storage capacity was also not the same; I literally kept a library of my texted conversations. Retrieving and formatting this library several years later once made some geeky but definitely very romantic St Valentine day gift ;-)

There is also a Sony CLIE TG50 -- bought for my girlfriend -- which is lying unused somehere. This one probably won't be used ever either, so if she agrees (and I'm pretty sure she will) I could get rid of this one too. Outside of aging battery issues, it should work perfectly well.

For the story, I also bought a Sony CLIE NX70V to my mother. This one is still actively used to store lists and miscellaneous memos. At some time she also used it for some casual games and as a digital camera. The only encountered problem was with the battery: showing some weakness, I replaced it by the one of my NX80V, as I was already not using it anymore. Oh, by the way, those devices were of course screwed with some 'you shall not open it' very small torx heads, excepted for the battery door, which was using some classic 'the old one you know and use everyday' phillips head. Switching an ageing battery was definitely possible as a head-user.

As you can guess, I am a big fan of hardware keyboard, as all of these devices have one. I was also fond of the form factor of the NX line: convertible between clamshell and tablet. I preferred the "portrait" mode of these devices, contrary to the following CLIE UX models which were using the same form-factor but in "landscape" mode.

Originally I wanted to have a Sony CLIE NZ90 which is, in my opinion, simply a legend in the Sony CLIE line. I finally backed on the NX80V as I could get my hand on one and since it provided numerous advantages over the NZ90. The NX80V, on the other hand, is more of a rarity than a legend :-)